Brew UK Forum | Beer Kits
Possible Wherry Disaster..
Little advice needed..
I purchased a brewing kit about 10 months ago and as with many other 'projects' I embark upon it got put in the garage until I decided I should do something with it!
Having taken the kit around to my grandad's to get things going, was very upset to get to the 'add yeast' stage of the instructions to discover there was no sachet of yeast in the kit!
So as it stands, we have the two cans dissolved and mixed, awaiting the yeast.
My questions are;
By not immediatly adding the yeast have I destroyed all chances of brewing a decent beer? How much yeast do I need to add to the fermenting vessel to get it going? As a last resort I will purchase another 'kit' to get the prescribed sachet of yeast, however at some point I will need the additional yeast to complete a kit!
Thanks,
Dan
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hi
How long ago did you make the kit?
I would imagine that its ok providing its in a sealed vessel so that no wild yeast or nasties can get to it. Keep it at a lowish temp if possible (under 18C) and buy some yeast from your local HB shop. If you haven't got one, buy some S04 here from Greg. Its a good all-round yeast, good price and can be dry-pitched. Throw that in and keep the brew at around 18 - 20C if you can - although between 16 and 23 is ok. You don't have to fit a fermentation trap but some do and its a good way to know if your brew is fermenting.
Good luck with it!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Hi Dan, agree with Tony. Go back to the place you bought it from too as they should be able to supply you with a replacement yeast.
If you have with the lid on then it should be okay for a couple of days. If you can move it somewhere cooler while you wait for the yeast then this would probably be a good idea too.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Remember to re- airate the wort before adding the yeast. I find my beer paddle in my electric screwdriver very handy! (sanitise first though).
I reckon all will be fine
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.
In the end we popped out and bought another kit to make sure we had the right amoutn of yeast to add. Next question is where/what/how should I buy the yeast to complete my second kit ready for the next brew?
Secondly, when I first set out to brew my own beer I was confident I would be leaving it in the barrel, however with this brew being done over at my Grandad's I now very much want to bottle it.
With this is mind, can I bottle direct from my fermentation vessel? Do I need special bottles, or can I collect lots of nice bottles through a pub I'm friendly with and then sterilise them? And what's the score with sugar? Do I add sugar to the FV, leave that for a bit then bottle? Or is this some extra 'kit' which would make this whole process simpler?
Thanks,
Dan
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hi
You will need a second fermentation vessel fitted with a Little Bottler. You will need to syphon the beer out of your current FV into the second FV. Then bottle straight from the new FV.
[edit] I forgot to say that you need to prime the beer when it goes into the bottles. This means adding sugar to the beer. You can either use Cooper's Carbination Tablets (one per bottle) or you can bulk prime. This means adding the total amount of sugar required to prime the amount of beer you have to the bottling FV. This sugar needs to be sanitised by heating before adding to the beer (let it cool down first).
I use the carbination tablets so someone may to need to elaborate on the bulk priming bit! /[edit]
There's also a bottling tree and a pump action bottle cleaner that will make sanitising the bottle a whole lot easier. Finally a no rinse sanitiser is a real boon.
There are loads of videos on You(know where)Tube showing how to bottle beer.
Cheers!
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Bottles from the pub are fine as long as the stuff they had in them was the same as the stuff you're going to fill them with. Personally I would only refill 'real ale' bottles, I wouldn't ever use Magners bottles as they look particularly lightweight to me, Adnams bottles too.
If you're of a more thrifty nature just stick a short piece of syphon tube over the end of the tap for bottling & use an up turned bread tray to drain the bottles.
As for priming, I add 3 grams to each bottle.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
That's great, thanks.
If doing the bulk prime do I just use regular sugar or are the special ones which work better?
In regards to the bottles being used I think I would rather go for glass (not sure about pouring ale from a plastic bottle..) so what's the score on 'recyling' bottles from a bar, or do they need to be specifically purchased for the job?
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
All of my bottles are 'recycled', mostly German flip tops & Timmy Taylors Landlord but various others too.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Normal sugar is fine, such a small amount will not effect the taste. When I batch prime I get some of the beer that is syphoned off add the total amount of sugar and dissovle it by boiling. Then I add it to the second fv (when its cooled) and start syphoning the beer in (this makes sure all the sugar is evenly distributed).
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Upturned bread tray? Upturned bread tray? Hamish; you're a genius!!
I've two of these kicking around from years ago when I lived in a house where the garage was constantly flooded so I kept the washing machine off the floor with 2 bread trays that I found in that garage. For some reason I took them with me but never used them. Until now....
-Barry
Conditioning (Bottles): Sam Adams Boston Lager Clone
Drinking (Bottles): Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
Drinking (King Keg): McMullen's Country Best Bitter
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Glad to be of service Baz but genius is stretching things a bit.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Don't sell yourself short, man; you've given me an excuse to say to the wife 'THAT'S why I never throw anything out'.
Conditioning (Bottles): Sam Adams Boston Lager Clone
Drinking (Bottles): Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
Drinking (King Keg): McMullen's Country Best Bitter
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Good use of bread tray Hamish!
I never throw anything out either... then one day I'll be looking for something and the missus will say 'oh that, I threw that away years ago'.
She's a bit OCD the missus .. by her own admission. Put something down and it will be gone ... packed away and never to be found again! (Or of course... binned!)
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Good News... I think.. so far..!
Gave the brew it's 7-10 days for the intial brew, with a little hesitation popped the lid off and was hit by one of the best smells ever!
I took one Hydrometer reading which read a perfect 1014 (I think this is what the box said to aim for?!) and when siphoning off into the secondary bin and priming, the few mouthfuls I couldn't avoid tasted good.
Now my question is, I have batch primed the beer in the second vessel with the intention of bottling. Can I leave the beer in the bin for a couple of weeks to finish and then bottle, or do I need to bottle it straight away?
Thanks again for all the help!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
ya gotta bottle straight away mate, if you dont then the yeast left in the beer will munch on the sugar and when you bottle later it will be flat as a pancake. The aim is to bulk prime then bottle straight after so the beer produces c02 in the bottle thus carbonation your beer.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
I see.. this could be an issue as at the moment I don;t have any glass bottles yet, or a capper, or any caps...
I moved the beer across on to the second bin on Sunday Afternoon. If I got it switched out into the pressurised barrel now would that be ok? (I'll then just have to suffer the inconvinience of not being able to move it around)
Nightmare...
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
You could leave in there then re prime when you have all the bottles etc. If its under airlock it should be okay. If you move somewhere cool in the last week it will be nice and clear too.
Alternatively stick it in the barrel now.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Thought I’d share this one with you’s…An Alternative to Bottles! I'm working in a "Dry" country, booze is illegal. We smuggle in beer kits. Ferment in a water igloo for a few days. When the foam has settled down we leave it one day more. Next we siphon into stainless steel fire extinguishers (some sugar added to get the CO2), each holds 20 pints. (we have 6 of these). Almost true each time is once the needle goes in to the green she's good to go. Squeeze the trigger and enjoy. These pints probably wouldn’t win any awards but we’ve never had a complaint yet, quite the opposite. That’s it, our basic kit, nothing fancy but necessity truly is the mother of invention!.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Again, thanks for the great advice guys.
I called my grandad and advised him to sterilise the barrel and transfer it asap, hopefully he's managed it and not put his back out as he hasn't called me back since...
In regards to posibly leaving it, then repriming as I bottle ( I presume this would be easiest with the individual tablets?), would this also affect the taste, making it a sweeter brew?
Going to start my second (identical) kit this weekend and will then be after some recommendations for new kits to try? Are there are good 'fruity' beer kits people would recommend? I've had some great honey and fruit flavoured beers before which would be nice to try to recreate!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
It wont affect the taste so dont worry if you need to re-prime. When you dop re-prime sugar in bottle, drops or batch priming will all do the trick.
I havnt done a kit in ages but you can awlays add your own stuff to bring more flavour to a kit. A list of stuff to buy here http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/index.php/ingredients/ingredientsadditives.html or just use some of your own bits n bobs!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
What stage of the kit would you add them extra bits to add more flavour never realised that could be done .
Fermenting:
Conditioning: Elderflower wine,Dandelion wine,Ribena wine,summer ale
Drinking: Turbo Cider/summer ale/way to amarillo/funked up wherry
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Depends, you could boil them in water for 20 mins or so to make a "tea" and add it to the fv with the rest of the water or you could add them at the end of the fermentation or if you are sure they are really clean, in the fv at the start with everything else.
I expect the tea and at the end method would prove best.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
That sound's like a grat idea.. does anyone have any idea what kind of quantity of 'tea' I would need to use to add a background flavour to a whole brew? I think some cherry would be nice at the back of the flavours...
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